Interest in high energy plasmas for applications in propulsion, thermonuclear fusion, space defense, short wavelength lasers, and materials development has stimulated considerable research into their production, confinement, acceleration, and propagation. New efforts in space defense have included plasmoids and collective acceleration of ions. Plasmoids have been launched using button guns, coaxial theta pinches, coaxial rail guns, and Z-pinch guns. Collective acceleration of ions by relativistic electron beams and self Z-pinch generators has been demonstrated. Coaxial theta pinch produces vortex rings having electron densities in the range of 10.sup.15 to 10.sup.16 /cm.sup.3 and ion temperatures from 10 to 1000 ev (electron volts), button guns produce plasmoids with lower electron temperatures and propagation velocities in the range of 10.sup.6 cm/sec, while collective ion accelerators produce ions with velocities as high as 0.1 c (c is the velocity of light) which corresponds to energies of 4.7 MeV per atomic mass unit. Additionally, x-ray lasing from laser produced plasmas has only recently been obtained.
To evaluate and characterize these plasmas, diagnostic techniques have been developed for more than 40 years. Magnetic probes, double probes, microwave interferometers, optical line broadening techniques, neutron emission and laser scattering techniques have been used. Faraday cups, Thomas parabolas, secondary-ion mass spectrometry, and other high energy dosimeters are used with relativistic electron beam and ion acceleration experiments. These various diagnostic techniques provide average properties of the plasmas. Even the ion temperatures and densities inferred from line broadening measurements and the electron densities inferred from laser scattering and microwave interferometry do not give spatially resolved information. However, many of these plasmas are produced with cylindrical symmetry and with energies such that an appropriately developed nonintrusive diagnostic method can replace the probe measurement techniques currently used. Also in many cases, as is the case in magnetic confinement thermonuclear fusion devices, probes cannot be used because of their introduction of contaminating ions into a system.
Prior art references disclosing further background to the invention and pertinent to the background summarized hereinabove are listed below as follows:
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